A Step Of Revival BOOK 1
by JoelGemini
Summary: The town that Joe has just entered is falling apart as he becomes more welcomed as a member of the village. Although the town is the falling apart, it may be just a step of evolution to grow in wisdom. (The town has been set in a mix from HM64 & HMBTN)
1. Prologue - The Kidos

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A Step of Revival - _Book I_

Prologue - The Kido's

Another sunrise and sunset had gone by and a man was carrying potatoes back and forth from the hoed farming land to the shipping bin. He had done the same over and over while his wife was knitting some clothes for him. He did the same all over again on the seasons except just with different products. The man never saw it coming one day, for one day its going to all be over. Throughout the Summer, they had a baby and had named him Moe. If you thought that was coming think again. It was in the Winter of the 8th whereas 39 years after they had their child born, he had said good-bye to his wife and went into the mine when it was just opened. As he was digging in the mine on his 17th patch he had threw the hoe to the left of him and collapsed. It had felt as if thunder hit his chest.

After 39 years the baby boy named Moe had a son too and named him Jack. Jack was already at 17 in his age and living in the town with his dad.

When the man from the farm had opened his eye he had found himself in the doctor's room. The doctor said he was only going to live for one more week because of his bad rheumatism. "Well, right now's the Spring of 24th, Umm… do you mind if I call your son?"

"No, I don't mind", the old man replied in a weak yet calm voice.

"Ok."

As the doctor was calling into town to Moe he had looked back at the old man. *sigh* 'I'm going to miss him…', he thought then had started pressing the numbers. *RING-- RING-- RING-- RING--….* He thought they weren't there so then he hung up the phone. But just as he was about to hang up was a loud voice shouted, "Hello?". The doctor excitedly picked up the phone to his ear and replied back. "Hi! Can I speak to Moe please?"

"Umm, may I know whose calling?"

"Its,… his father's doctor."

"Alright, hold on a sec."

The doctor was fidgeting and twisting the wire on the phone cord until, "Hello?". This time he knew it was Moe because of his deeper voice.

"Hi, this is your father's doctor speaking and well its kind of urgent. Can you come here right away?"

"What's the problem with him?"

"I hate to break it to you but he's going to err…", the doctor paused. Then he had saw a bucket next to him and kicked it.

"Are you kicking a bucket? Uh I don't understand."

"Kicking the bucket is the same as saying passing away."

"Oh, ok… I'll come there right away."

When Moe, Nina (his wife), and Jack had gone to the hospital where Moe's dad was it was a long talk with them. Moe and his dad talked for nearly two hours. After talking of two hours Moe's dad had said to leave the room but leave Jack. Moe had looked at his dad puzzled, then left the room. When everyone left only Jack and his grandfather was there.

"Jack, what would you think if *coughs*… well what would you say if something were to turn into a landfill on a person's own land."

"Huh?"

"*sigh* Well, what I am trying to say is this will may be a lot of work for you, but the mayor of this island wants to turn my farm into a landfill if no one takes care of it. And *coughs* I want you to take over the farm. Could you, please?"

"I-I-I don't know. But I guess I'll do it for you."

The grandfather smiled and Jack said they could come in now. Jack was now talking to his father, Moe, about the farm. Moe was a bit jealous but then agreed. After that day, Jack had talked to the mayor about the farm and what he was going to do. The mayor only said that if he had done a good job keeping up on the farm then the farm will stay a farm but he would only have eight years. He would check up to see how he was doing every end of Summer. But then the shocking part of it was: "If your reputation isn't up by then get out." It was one week after Jack's grandfather had died. The funeral was already planned and it was set after 10 days he died at 10:00 AM. The stone memorial for his grandfather was also prepared. On it was written:

Joe Kido

You were the best farmer we had and we thank you.

He had taught us how to plant using the best formations and 

finding the best place to where to plant……………………..

………………………………................................................

………………………………................................................

1902 - 1989

Winter 08 - Spring 04

After the grandfather's death, Jack's grandmother had moved to the bakery because that's where both grandparents had gone most with the happiest times. Elli happily agreed to letting her stay. Along the way, when I had moved into grandpa's farm no one suspected a thing, except the mayor.


	2. Chapter 1 - That First Impression

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Chapter 1 - That First Impression

I, Jack Kido , will take over my grandfather's farm and make it a success. I kept on thinking that whenever I started to get lazy or depressed. If I failed, my grandfather… well-- I don't like to think about it

Dad had seemed mad at me for wanting to leave for grandpa's farm. He didn't like the idea but he still sent me to grandpa's farm.

The car had stopped right in front of the farm. When I had got out my mom had followed me with the family dog (that was a puppy) and said, "Take care of him and he'll take care of you." I smiled and she had laid down the dog. Before I could say bye to my dad he had already drove away with mom. I looked left and right and walked into a building. It had a dusty pet bowl and some 12-14 logs of chopped wood. I was guessing this was the wood shed. And well since there was no dog house I minus well build a dog house for the little fellow. It had only took three logs and I thought it was easy so why not? 'Why not?!' I didn't know a single thing about building! I had ended up with -- well couldn't say… maybe a broken mini-pool table with a flap at the front? I guess that was too little wood. All of a sudden I had heard a giggle. When I looked up it was a girl with orange hair and blue eyes still laughing and giggling.

"What is that?", she finally said after a minute of laughing.

"Err… a dog house?", I blushed and grinned at the same time.

"Well it seems… err-- I mean you should try talking to the carpenters. Usually all the town's people use them. Oh, oops sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Ann Malthace and I had just saw a truck pass by to the old farm which is her and I was curious to see who was it.

"Oh, I'm Joe. Uh I mean-- Moe… N-I, uh mean Doe? DOH! No that's not my name. My names Jack-- Jack? Y-y-yeah, Jack Kido! *phew*", after that quote my face had turned from pink to red. I heard her giggle once more but this time it was shorter.

"Umm… do you mind if I walked with you to the carpenter's house? I don't think you know the way."

"Ok. Umm… why are we… oh wait-- never mind.", this time she just smiled a big smile. I smiled back.

On the way we had encountered some people in town. The only way to the mountains was through the main town. Everybody was staring at me or was it Ann? Some people just said hi to Ann while she replied back. But why were some people staring at me like they'd seen a ghost? Was it me? Ann? Ann and I? Flyer open?!

When we had arrived at the mountains near the carpenter's house the carpenters had looked at us the same way with the town's people. Then we had actually entered one of their houses. The carpenter in there replied with "Wud'da ya need?" in a low toned voice. He wasn't really concentrating on us, just his planner.

"My new friend-- uh I mean friend…". 'Wait a minute', I thought 'I thought I was new'… "needs a dog house." Ann replied graciously. When the carpenter heard "new friend" he had looked up at us and was in a shocked sate.

"Ooh… "FRIEND" Huh? Don't your mean B--" the carpenter paused as Ann had stared back in a mad-state.

"Well, he just needs a dog house.", she finally replied.

"Alright it'll cost--", the carpenter stared closely at me. "--umm are you new here?"

"He's the new farmer taking over the old farm.", Ann grinned.

"I guess you can have your dog house for free as a first time person. I'll send over another carpenter to help you guys."

We had finally headed back to my grandpa's farm along with a carpenter. On the way I picked several different herbs.

The dog house was finished. All it cost me was just some old wood from my woodshed. I had placed a dog bowl next to the dog house and put the herbs I picked as dog food. The dog started munching on the herbs and the carpenter had ran back home. I thought the dog was cute eating and so did Ann too. We looked at each other and our dog started to stop eating and look at both of us. 'Was it? Could it be that--? Nah.' Both Ann and I then looked at our standing ground and then the dog continued to eat.

"Oh, um, I forgot what was your dog's name again?", Ann suddenly asked. I had forgot it completely Then I had just made one up.

"Err-- Nate."

"Nate? That's a nice name. Hmm… its nearly 12:00 PM I got to go now."

"Bye." Ann had then left off. She had came back at eight PM.

"It's 8:00 PM. Care to join me watch the stars on the mountain top?"

"Fine by me.", I said.

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When I had gotten into the house Ann had said good-bye and went back home. As I was about to sleep I had found a book on the table to the right of the bed. It was grandpa's diary! I had skipped to the last page he wrote on and started to write the times continuing on grandpa's farm.

Log001 JackSummer 5 Thursday

This farm work looks hard and well I hope to get better at it soon. But Ann today, a girl I met turned around everything. I hope she can teach me more.

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Chapter 2 - Show Ann Win

"Jack? (chain of echoes) Jack! (another chain of echoes)."

I had blinked for a second trying to make out who said that. When the blur was gone I could see it was--

"ANN?! W-what-- err how did you--"

"--get into your house? You left your door open. You know your should be more careful. There are wild dogs around here and they're of course dangerous."

"Uh, thanks for the warning. But what-- I mean why did you come here for? And plus its rude to barge in."

"Sorry, my dad wants to… well lets just say I'm your tour guide for you today. I kind of want to hurry this on. So where do you want to start?"

"Umm… well, tools I guess…", I said. I kind of felt embarrassed but I hadn't even used one of those tools from my grandfather's tool shed. Still, I didn't know so it had to be done. Ann had shown me step by step on how to use the tools. It didn't really seem like she was hurrying.

"Alright, now hold the sickle like this…", I had then held the sickle. She had giggled.

"Heh, you look like Death.", she commented. I just took that as a compliment.

"Ok now, once you know how to handle this really good you can cut more patches at a time. Although you need to send it to Rick whereas he'll "sharpen" your tools. He's easy to recognize on the west side of town. You should see a hammer as a sign on his door. He's orange haired and well that's all there is to know. Us two are the only orange hairs, I think. She had then shown me the highest she could cut up to was three patches of weeds in front of her while I could only cut one. I felt embarrassed again. As Ann helped me to other tools I could only do one patch with one tool while could hoe two spaces with the hoe and break a rock and log two times faster than me. She had then shown me other tools like the animal brush, milker, clippers, and lastly how to use the animal medicine.

"Well, that was fun. What now?"

"I'd like to see the tour of the town now."

"Oh yeah, that's right. I was meaning to buy seeds. I'll show you how to plant when we get back."

----

I don't know if Ann even liked being a tour guide for me. Or maybe she did? It was maybe 50/50 -- or 65/35. 65 meaning how much she liked it from 35 meaning how much she hated it. Oh well… at least she planted three patches of melon seeds for me.

Right now it was nearly 5:00 PM and so I gave Nate , my dog something to eat. All of a sudden a voice called my name while I was inside the house.

"Yo! Mr. Kido? You there?" I opened the door to find out that it was the mailman.

"Oh, hi… uh-- Bill. What is it?"

"How'd you know my name? I though-- aren't you new here?"

"Well your name tag says--"

"Oh ok. Well here's the mail for today."

Bill had just then left. I had opened the letter and it said:

Dear Mr. Kido,

You are entitled to join our Cow Festival at 5:30 PM. Sorry for the urgent news. See you there at town square!

Sincerely,

Mayor Charlie Tom

'Hmm…' I thought to myself. 'That'd be interesting. There I can kind of learn some tips for breeding cows, I guess.' So I went excitedly.

It took around 15 minutes to walk to the festival's holding place, town square. People were still setting up the whole place. Then I saw the mayor coming towards me.

"Ah, Jack you actually made it!"

"Well yeah, I'd thought it'd be interesting."

"Since you don't have a cow ready or you don't even have a cow you can just vote."

"Ok."

At 5:30, when the contest actually started, cows started entering everywhere. The mayor said we have 25 minutes to judge. Everywhere cows had their shiny coats glimmering. I had drank pasteurized milk from five cows. For some reason the second cow had sweet milk. And I think the fourth and fifth cows had the best affection rate to everybody around them. The first had the shiniest coat and produced two times the average milk form a full grown cow. And the third cow had a saddle where you actually ride the cow at five miles per hour. These cows are one though decision. When I asked their breeding tips from a few farmers they said it was a family secret. Hmm… I guess I'll vote for #1.

"All judges report to the fountain turn in your votes and contestants to the side of the fountain." Was it the end of 25 minutes already? Everybody had turned in their vote and then--

"And the winner for this year's Cow Festival is *crowd gasps* Ann and her brother Matt Malthace who owns cow #4!"

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Log002 Jack

Summer 6 Friday

Today was interesting. The best about today was that I got three melon seed packages for free and Ann helped me plant them. I went to the cow festival today and it looks like a hard contest for the best cows. I don't think I'll ever go to their levels… for now.


	3. Chapter 2 - Show Ann Win

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Chapter 2 - Show Ann Win

"Jack? (chain of echoes) Jack! (another chain of echoes)."

I had blinked for a second trying to make out who said that. When the blur was gone I could see it was--

"ANN?! W-what-- err how did you--"

"--get into your house? You left your door open. You know your should be more careful. There are wild dogs around here and they're of course dangerous."

"Uh, thanks for the warning. But what-- I mean why did you come here for? And plus its rude to barge in."

"Sorry, my dad wants to… well lets just say I'm your tour guide for you today. I kind of want to hurry this on. So where do you want to start?"

"Umm… well, tools I guess…", I said. I kind of felt embarrassed but I hadn't even used one of those tools from my grandfather's tool shed. Still, I didn't know so it had to be done. Ann had shown me step by step on how to use the tools. It didn't really seem like she was hurrying.

"Alright, now hold the sickle like this…", I had then held the sickle. She had giggled.

"Heh, you look like Death.", she commented. I just took that as a compliment.

"Ok now, once you know how to handle this really good you can cut more patches at a time. Although you need to send it to Rick whereas he'll "sharpen" your tools. He's easy to recognize on the west side of town. You should see a hammer as a sign on his door. He's orange haired and well that's all there is to know. Us two are the only orange hairs, I think. She had then shown me the highest she could cut up to was three patches of weeds in front of her while I could only cut one. I felt embarrassed again. As Ann helped me to other tools I could only do one patch with one tool while could hoe two spaces with the hoe and break a rock and log two times faster than me. She had then shown me other tools like the animal brush, milker, clippers, and lastly how to use the animal medicine.

"Well, that was fun. What now?"

"I'd like to see the tour of the town now."

"Oh yeah, that's right. I was meaning to buy seeds. I'll show you how to plant when we get back."

----

I don't know if Ann even liked being a tour guide for me. Or maybe she did? It was maybe 50/50 -- or 65/35. 65 meaning how much she liked it from 35 meaning how much she hated it. Oh well… at least she planted three patches of melon seeds for me.

Right now it was nearly 5:00 PM and so I gave Nate , my dog something to eat. All of a sudden a voice called my name while I was inside the house.

"Yo! Mr. Kido? You there?" I opened the door to find out that it was the mailman.

"Oh, hi… uh-- Bill. What is it?"

"How'd you know my name? I though-- aren't you new here?"

"Well your name tag says--"

"Oh ok. Well here's the mail for today."

Bill had just then left. I had opened the letter and it said:

Dear Mr. Kido,

You are entitled to join our Cow Festival at 5:30 PM. Sorry for the urgent news. See you there at town square!

Sincerely,

Mayor Charlie Tom

'Hmm…' I thought to myself. 'That'd be interesting. There I can kind of learn some tips for breeding cows, I guess.' So I went excitedly.

It took around 15 minutes to walk to the festival's holding place, town square. People were still setting up the whole place. Then I saw the mayor coming towards me.

"Ah, Jack you actually made it!"

"Well yeah, I'd thought it'd be interesting."

"Since you don't have a cow ready or you don't even have a cow you can just vote."

"Ok."

At 5:30, when the contest actually started, cows started entering everywhere. The mayor said we have 25 minutes to judge. Everywhere cows had their shiny coats glimmering. I had drank pasteurized milk from five cows. For some reason the second cow had sweet milk. And I think the fourth and fifth cows had the best affection rate to everybody around them. The first had the shiniest coat and produced two times the average milk form a full grown cow. And the third cow had a saddle where you actually ride the cow at five miles per hour. These cows are one though decision. When I asked their breeding tips from a few farmers they said it was a family secret. Hmm… I guess I'll vote for #1.

"All judges report to the fountain turn in your votes and contestants to the side of the fountain." Was it the end of 25 minutes already? Everybody had turned in their vote and then--

"And the winner for this year's Cow Festival is *crowd gasps* Ann and her brother Matt Malthace who owns cow #4!"

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Log002 Jack

Summer 6 Friday

Today was interesting. The best about today was that I got three melon seed packages for free and Ann helped me plant them. I went to the cow festival today and it looks like a hard contest for the best cows. I don't think I'll ever go to their levels… for now.


	4. Chapter 3 - Enemies To The Worst

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Chapter 3 - Enemies to the Worst

I just was watering my crops. Hopefully I could become friends with the other people. I mean because I really hadn't met anyone. The Cow Festival didn't do nothing much. They had just avoided me then. And while I was walking past town to the carpenters I think they were staring because Ann usually didn't hang out with boys of what she had told me. I was watering my crops then the weirdest thing happened.

"Hi, I'm Popuri Ankara. Uh, since you're the town farmer I thought you could plant this moon drop flower for me. I added something so that it could only be planted on vast amount of hoed soil instead inside of a greenhouse. And you need a vast area of land to plant this. It's kind of hard for me to use the hoe so I thought you could plant it."

"I'm Jack Kido… sure I'll plant that for you." Ann taught me how to plant crops and so flowers should be the same, I guess.

"Thanks I'll come by and pick it next week if it grows." Popuri handed me the package holding the seed and skipped away.

I had started planting it closest to my house after I hoed the land. I then took out my watering can and started to water it. I put down the watering can to get something in the house. By accident my left foot had knocked the watering can spilling excess water.

"Ugh… great." I went to the pond near my house to refill my watering can. When I had gotten back to get something in the house the moon drop flower had sprouted. 'Popuri was going to pick the flower up in a week? She'll be picking up more like a bean stalk.' I had then headed to my house and when I was about to open my door--

"Jack! Come with me quick…a fight has broken out in the Inn!", she had said when she held her hand on her nose. I paused. She had sounded like she had a stuffy nose. I had just noticed why because a drop of blood dripped from her palm.

"Com on. Lets Go!", she said hurriedly. I had then realized that I was just standing there for a few seconds. We had then ran to the Inn finally.

There were two boys fighting. Although not much action was going on because Doug, the owner of the Inn was holding up one of the boys on the left. The only people in the room were Ann, Doug, Popuri, the two boys, and another girl.

"The one on the right's Rick and the one on the left's Kai with . Kai got mad because Rick accidentally hit me on the nose. I tried to tell him that but he thought I just wanted him not to fight.", Popuri said.

Doug looked like he was about to lose control of Kai while he (Kai) struggling. He nearly did and I broke the fight by talking.

"Ok… uh, err… umm. W-what happened here?" I was kind of nervous saying this. I had never broke up a fight and I so I was fidgeting as if I were out in the cold. Kai had started to stop struggling. I paused and so did everyone else staring at me. My teeth started to chatter and Kai and Rick knew I was nervous.

"Alright… fine, why don't we go to my grandpa's farm and settle this.", I said with a sigh of relief.

"Kay, good now that its over my mom needs me at the flower shop.", Popuri added.

"Umm… we better get back to work.", Ann and Doug said at the same time.

I started to fidget again. No one but Rick and Kai will come to my farm with me? Us three started to walk back to my grandfather's farm. Rick and Kai had that look of so-he-owns-that. By the time we had gotten back I saw my watering can was tumbled over facing the moon drop flower. It had dropped the water again. By the good thing was that the moon drop flower had already finished growing I guess since it had a moon drop shape bloomed. 'Hmm… I think I should tell Popuri it bloomed. Ugh, after I settle the fight with Kai and Rick…'I ran to refill my watering can again.

"Uh, guys you stay here and I need to refill my watering can." They both nodded and Kai grinned at me. I ran to the pond and refilled my watering can. Then I ran back to both of the two guys--

"That's pay back Rick." Kai started to laugh because he had just pushed Rick to the ground. 'Arrgh! Fighting again?' I was mad and so was Rick. 'Hey where's--'

"--THE MOON DROP FLOWER!"

"Say what?" When Rick got up the soil was spread around and the moon drop flower was ripped out when he slid a bit. Rick had forgotten about his anger and both he and Kai looked at me confused.

"T-t-the moon flower. Y-you crushed it!." Popuri, flower… I had paused there for a second thinking of all the things that would happen to me. One person can change it all especially my reputation is on a cliffhanger.

"Well… uh, sorry. How could I repay you?" Kai was the last I expected to say that for some reason. I heard he was a ladies-man from Ann.

"Ok, what you can do is you can say to Popuri is that you wrecked her flower." I then was relieved.

"Wait-wait-wait--… wait! How is this Popuri's flower?"

"Lets just say she gave me a seed of a flower to plant and she was expecting it just next week!"

"Ok, first, N-O… if she knew that "I" ruined her flower she would kill me. Second, she's my girlfriend. She would break up with me."

"But it's the truth! You--"

"Truth or not. No way." I had clenched my fists after Kai said that.

"Ok, how 'bout you Rick?"

"Sorry, I can't rat out on my friend. We are friends you know.", Rick said. 'This is getting too confusing. Rick and Kai had acted like big enemies and now Rick says they are both friends?!' I felt like someone had grabbed my conscious and took it away.

"Erg, J-just GO! I want to be alone."

As they had left it seemed like I had failed to revive my grandpa's farm. I knew it, Popuri would tell the whole town this and that about me. The mayor will then send me back to my parents. I guess it was good having a great experience like this. Escaping the city, makes you want to just run around and dive on the grass. I had then went to the flower shop, I knew I couldn't keep this waiting. It would just make it worse if I did wait. I had then stopped in front of the flower shop.

"Here it goes…" Here it goes… another step to bravery and another step back to the city.

"*door opens* Here what goes?"

"DAH! Uh-- I mean um hey Popuri." She had just all of a sudden opened the door. Its like she knew I had wrecked her plant. Did Rick or Kai tell?

"So why'd you come here?"

"Uh, uh-- uh what made you say that?"

"Oh sorry then. Okay by--"

"Wait! I kind of wrecked, sorry to say but wrecked your flower." Something pulled me away from saying "Kai did it!" I don't know what but it's like a ghost had gone through my body.

"Wait… don't you mean seed?"

"Huh? I'm confused."

"The moon drop flower seed is supposed to sprout on the third day you plant it."

"Well it had fully grown as in a "moon drop" shape."

Popuri looked puzzled and so did I. She had then ran off to my farm, I followed. She had forgotten everything about I wrecking her flower. We had then reached my farm and saw what happened to the moon drop flower. But it wasn't I had expected.

"What? How did…" The flower was perfectly normal. It wasn't smashed, ripped, or destroyed. Popuri went to see if the flower was fake or not or if it was even planted on the ground. She then paused.

"Its…its real. But its just not logically right. Well, thanks for planting it for me." She had took the flower and left.

'How come it grew faster than it was supposed to. Was it because I watered it too many times?' I had then walked to town. While on the way I saw Rick and Kai arguing. Were they going to fight again? As I walked closer I could hear what they were saying.

"This is the last straw Kai. We're not friends anymore. First you pushed me into Jack's plant and second you started wooing on Karen!"

"I what?! I wasn't wooing Karen. She had just dropped a flower and said for me to pick it up."

"Is that so? I saw you kissing Karen!"

"N-n-no… Karen was kissing me. It's the other way!"

"What?! K--"

"I mean um… well I just picked--" They had just saw me coming in their view.

"Ok Jack… I think you can figure this out." Rick was hoping that I would say Kai is just as he pictured.

"Uh me? Well I mean Kai you didn't actually destroy anything in my farm. Its back to normal."

"Don't lie Jack!" I could see Rick was even more mad than Kai when he hit Popuri by accident.

"Its real. Ask Popuri for yourself." I hoped Rick believed me or else--

"Ok fine. Kai, I mean bye Kai… its over. Our friendship is over."

"What?"

"Look I'm going to have a talk with Karen." Rick had then left.

"What's wrong with Rick?", I said.

"Rick and Karen were childhood friends too. They both met ever since they were even babies. They were a cute couple ever since they reached the age of 11."

"Well how--"

"Look I got no time for questions."

I was then left the only one in the middle of it all, literally. Today I didn't write in my diary. I had thought it would just be the worst time in my life. There was a blank in my diary and I skipped to the next page. It was the third day on the farm and I broke Kai and Rick up. The next day the Popuri had told me Kai had moved to Mineral Beach far away from town. Karen had then forgiven Rick for acting too caring and Rick forgave Karen for kissing Kai.


	5. Chapter 4 - Twisted

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Chapter 4 - Twisted

Time moves so fast. It was 14 days after the Cow Festival and my melons were fully grown. I saved around eight of them and fed one forth of one to the dog while I just took out the rest of the melon seeds from the melon and saved it for the next summer. And to pay back for planting them who was Ann, I gave her around five melons. That left me with two more. I planned to eat one and then maybe save the other one for tomorrow. I couldn't eat it at my farm because it was,… well dusty and dirty. Inside my house was dark. But maybe the mountains would be nice and plus exercise. Then as I had remembered the mountains are mostly dirt but few grass patches. As I went up passed the carpenters house there was a cut tree trunk with a smooth top surface and a tiny pond connecting to a creek. I'd think its four feet deep. Seems nice so I sat down on the tree trunk to eat. As I got the knife on one hand and the melon on the other the melon slid off my hand and into the pond. I dropped the knife and--

"Oh, hello, I am the Harvest Goddess. Is this for me? Or did you drop it?" She had just popped out of the no where. Actually she floated above the pond.

"Uh-uh, its for you." I was shocked. I never learned this in science or history.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I-uh, got another, um-- melon at my farm."

"Thank you. Not many people are as generous as you. And for that I will give you one wish in return. You may choose from strength, wealth, or love."

'Ok lets get this straight.' I thought. 'The questions err… choices are (1 strength, (2 wealth, (3 love, (4 run away, (5 hopes she gets scared when I hold the knife, or (6 blink and hope it's a hallucination… I'll go with six!" I closed my eyes, shook my head and opened my eyes. She was still there. I did the same again and she was still there. 'Ok then…" Since she was still there I just went for 1,2, or 3. 'Wealth? Nah… I'm not that greedy. Love? Hmm… not now. Ok so--

"Made up your mind yet?"

"Strength!"

"Ok then! Eat this and you'll see… actually you'll feel." She had handed me a golden turnip?

"It's a Power Berry. Oh yes, one more thing. Although you have only wished for strength I see you're a first timer here reviving your grandfather's farm. Another mystery wish will be granted to you later on in your journey." 'Power Berry? Nice name to call a fruit yet turnip look-a-like. But another wish granted? I wonder what it'll be.'

As I had took the first bite and swallowed, nothing happened. I had took a second bite, and still nothing. Nothing happened but it tasted like a crispy apple with very rich chocolate syrup stuffed in the center. I had just finished the fruit when I just came town. And then it finally kicked in. A powerful energy surge had compiled in my stomach and busted throughout my whole body. Was I glowing gold? For a second I thought my whole body had shined gold. It had then faded to a weak silver to copper to bronze and then I turned back to normal. Instead of walking home I felt like running home so I ran home.

When I had got to the farm I pulled out the reserve melon. I was about to open it with my knife when--

"Excuse me, but can I have that melon I'll-I'll trade it for this baby chicken." I looked up and saw a person with brown hair and eyes. He was kind of looking a bit solemn.

"There a catch to this?"

"Well actually when I said "baby" I meant "runt". You see I raised this chicken for nine days already and it won't grow or lay eggs and maybe you can make it of use to you.

"Ok. I'll trade." He and I traded and went our opposite ways.

"Uh,…", the guy paused. "… the name's Cliff Renaldo, I live in the town Inn. Oh I forgot to hand you this." It was chicken feed. "It has 30-32 pieces of feed. It should last you around one season." I then nodded.

"Mines Jack, Jack Kido."

When I had finally gone into the chicken coot I put down the runt and got some feed into one of the feeding stalls. The runt hurriedly ate the feed. I put down a second and third out of curiosity. It ate the feed slowly this time then ignored the third for later, I guessed. Suddenly I heard a knock. I opened the door of the chicken coot and saw it was Bill the mailman knocking on my house door.

"Oh, hi Bill." The mailman looked backwards.

"There you are. Here's the mail."

"Kay Thanks."

The mailman left and I opened the letter:

Dear Mr. Kido,

Again I'm sorry for an urgent news update I keep forgetting your here. Please join us for another Firefly Festival because it had rained on the 17th. The festival will be held at Mineral Beach starting at 6:00 PM. We will just be doing some stuff with fireflies. See you there!

Sincerely,

Mayor Charlie Tom

'Oh well, even though its around 20 days I lived here I guess I can take a break. I mean since the mayor insisted.' So when it was 5:00 I started to walk to the beach. My arrival was at 5:44 and I had saw the mayor, Ann, Matt (Ann's brother), and Cliff there. There were some fireflies lit up part of the beach hanging around the pier. 

"Oh, hi Jack!" It was Ann. Then the mayor came in.

"Jack, sorry if I keep on forgetting to mail about these things. Please don't take this offensive."

"Its ok.", I replied.

"Heh, look here. The sun light is nearly gone and the moon is shiny on the silver sea."

The mayor was right. Waves were trashing as the sun light set to the other side of the earth. The moon had shined a light silver path unto the sea. It was beautiful. Like-- like a holy light was brought from the heavens and it sat on the sea of water. The moon had a whirlpool of clouds around like a twister.

"Jack? Are you there--"

"D-huh? Oh uh yes?"

"You were gazing at the sea for about nearly 14 minutes now." Ann was right. The sun light was completely gone and the waves were calm now. Everyone in town was here, too. It was exactly 6:00.

"What were you looking at anyways?" Ann questioned.

"Oh, you know… the sun light, the moon, the clouds that looks as if it swirls around the moon, the vast o--"

"W-wait. Back up there. When you said the clouds what did you say again?"

"…the clouds that looks as if it swirls around the moon. Hey, actually now that you think about it, it is swirling around the moon like a--"

"TWISTER!!!!", Ann had shouted while everyone gasped. In this situation since it was forming in the water it was a cyclone.

"People, stay calm. Even the edge of the twister is around four and a half hours away! Patch your windows and secure your houses to the ground. The women and children go gather food from the mountains in case this hurricane lasts longer than expected. Don't worry, we should be prepared for a surprise twister." the mayor said.

"Jack! Have you ever experienced a hurricane before?", Ann asked.

"Uh, no.", I replied.

"You seem so calm. Do you even know how much damage this can do if we're not prepared? Oh well. I'll get some food for you then I'll go back home. You start securing the house by patching the windows with wood and the door last."

"Alright…"

I tried to hurry. It was only a one man helping me and that was myself. Others had just had 2-3 sons or daughters helping them. The only thing that was bad was that I had to patch up the barn too and the chicken house especially because the runt. It was hard work even though it was just patch this with that nail this wood to that although I still had to move around a lot. Each time I finished a window I could feel a burst in my heart to go faster. Each time I finished a building I could feel the wind sharpening against my face. I felt scared now. Right now I was just done with the cow barn and next to the chicken house. I wonder if grandpa had to do these things. Oh well I just hope everyone survives. As I patched up the last window I felt that I needed to do everything with much more haste! I could feel some mist on my face.

"*hammers in the last nail* There…"

"Ok Jack! I got the food and my brother already has called me to go home. Sorry I go to go now."

"Thanks…" Ann dropped the food in the house and ran out. She was about to run across the intersection except just then a car had blocked her.

"ANN! Oh, sorry-- you cannot go back… the hurricanes going to be more severe in less than 5 minutes!" It was the shipper.

"But, I got to go back to--"

"I'm sorry Ann, its dangerous." Ann had then nodded.

The hurricane was being more severe now. Winds had picked up an estimated of 78MPH and the rainfall was around 1 inch already. The pond was overflowing too. Ann and I had gone into the house and the shipper's car had did a sharp u-turn that made a screech back to town. 'Well, what a coincidence… Ann, staying in my house, during a disaster, while she planned to go back to her house. I'm not saying this is the best time of my life… umm never mind.'

"So, what do you do here for fun?" Ann asked. I could already hear the winds sharp scream. It was getting fiercer each second. 

"Umm… nothing really. I just do chores for the day and pick some stuff in the mountains." Ann had then sighed.

"Sorry, its just I'm not really that kind of type." Ann said.

"I see…"

Ann had then jumped on my bed and slept. Oh well… I had sat on the chair near the table and then slept. It was until the hurricane had passed which was four hours after. I could hear the silence of the winds… I then woke up Ann on my bed.

"*yawn* Yeah… the hurricanes gone!" Ann shouted.

"Yea… its over. Its all over. Heh… we didn't actually need the food." I smiled. We both had then went out of the house. I could see all the boards were still in place but some of the melons were blown away. Ann and I had then took off all the nails and removed the wooden boards. I could see the runt was still ok yet a little petrified.

"Well, that's it. I got to go home now."

"Alright… Bye!" I said… it wasn't much of a big experience but we got through the storm, for today.


	6. Chapter 5 - Angel's Tears

****

Chapter 5 - Angel's Tears

A grayish green Ford Pick-up Truck had ran down the road. It drove from the town to the mountains and back. It had then went into the vineyard and then moved to almost everyplace in town. It went to the town Inn and then a person had gone out. Almost the whole town was surrounding the Inn. After a while the person had gone back into the truck. The truck had then headed southwest. Two rabbits were staring at the truck as it passed some dead grass fields. Where it was going... It was going to my farm.

"Well that's it. I got to go home now." Ann said.

"Alright… Bye!"

Hmm… Tires had screeched right when Ann was about walk on the road.

"D-ah! What are you trying to do! Kill me?" Ann shouted all of a sudden. She had flinched and then fallen to the ground.

"Ann!…" I said. I ran to her to see if she was ok. "You ok?"

"Y-yah. I'm fine. It's just, I broke my ankle--"

"Sorry… I just needed to get here really fast to tell you something Ann." The person had gotten out of the car and apologized to Ann. Ann had then looked up to the man. It was the shipper (again!).

"And what were you trying to tell me?! Boom! Your DEAD?! D-OW, My ankle."

"No, but-- Here, I got some first aid in the back. Hold on."

The shipper had gone to the back of his truck and took out a box with a red cross. He then opened it and took out something which I think was a roll of cast or however you say that. He had then rolled it around Ann's ankle.

"There, you can walk just don't try to bend your ankle."

"Ok thanks… so why are you here. What are you trying to tell me?"

"Ann, uh you can't go back to the Inn."

"Huh?" Ann and I both said at the same time.

"Just don't… OK!?"

"How can I not come back into the Inn?! That's where I live!"

"Or do you just want to hear the news. Uh… bad news that is…"

"News?? There's bad news?", Ann shrieked. I could feel just when he said that Ann had been close to being paralyzed. A cold-hot streak had then covered my spine so quickly that I started to shiver a bit.

"I'll… uh-- Your… your dad had been in an accident during the disaster."

"D-d--…dad?"

"He… had uh, fell off a ladder while he was trying to secure the windows during the hurricane. Luckily, your brother had pulled him inside the house just in time. The Inn had suffered severe damage at the top floor (the second floor) with cracked windows, broken furniture, and walls. That included your room and your brothers room too."

"But is my dad okay?"

"We're not sure yet. He's in the doctor's room right now."

"Ann… I'm-- I'm sorry." said Jack.

"Thanks, but you sort of saved me from that, Jack… sort of."

"Umm… you two wan' nah see him?"

"Alright, I guess--", Ann said. This time she was calm but sad.

"Hop in the back of the Ford guys. Don't worry… it shouldn't be a bumpy ride. This thing drives like a... ... Ford."

So we got in the back of the truck while the shipper went to the front. We sat in the pick-up while he sat in the driver's seat. Then the truck started and we headed back to town. *Rumble-- rumble*

"D-dye-I t-thought this w-was going to be a sm-smooth r-ride." It was hard for me to speak and hard for him to hear because of the rocky ride, especially because a window was blocking the back and I had to talk from the side.

"Oh… sorry! I think its because I'm in the front seat."

"O-oh I-yah see. Oh well-- we're here. Com-on out."

Ann had rushed out of the car and went to the doctor's building faster than me and the shipper combined-- although, quite in a drunk-dizzy way.

"DAD!! DAD…" Ann had nearly knocked down the door and went in with tears.

"Hush… he's resting. Oh-- Ann… umm…sorry about your dad.", the doctor said acting surprised.

"…" I had then got in the room and Ann was sitting in the doctor's chair with a tissue. She hadn't said anything for a while with me, and the doctor in the corner of the room discussing about something.

"So, is he going to be alright?", I was beginning to go to Ann's level of making sure that her dad was ok or alright.

"Well, in spite of his injuries. I- *sigh* well its not like he's going to die but he won't be able to walk move his arms for about a week. I need him to stay here for about two weeks until I can let him out."

"I-- I see…"

"Ok, I think I'm ready to go now." Ann had suddenly said.

"Kay then. I'll call you if anything comes up.", the doctor replied.

Ann and I had walked outside. She wasn't that active tomboy anymore. We had just sat on a bench near the doctor's hospital for a while. After a while I saw the doctor run to the direction of the Inn. Ann hadn't noticed that yet. I guess he was just going to tell Ann's brother, Matt, that his father was in the hospital. 'Huh? That doesn't sound right. Matt already knew that… well he was the first one that saw it or something.'

"Ann 'scuse me for a sec."

"Ok… *sniff sniff*"

I ran as fast as I could after the doctor to the Inn. It wasn't that far, well that's what I thought, just 1/5 of a mile. I had to catch my breath several times while the doctor just kept on running. I could've just yelled and said hey I'm right here but something made me to just keep it inside me and let him not to know. No one else in town noticed me since it was around 3:00 P.M. -- Heh, time does fly fast in this town… oh well. No stopping now because Matt had just opened the door. I can get in now! I can get in n-- *SLAM!* 'Err… the door just closed. Oh wait-- that's a good thing!' I could softly but clearly hear what they were saying.

"Matt, *pants* I-I… well I hate to say this. But something just gotten worse."

"Just gotten?-- Ah no… y-you don't mean."

"Yeah… I-I'm sorry but--"

"--HES IN A COMA… !!? Its all my fault… its all my fault." Matt's voice was so loud that time I think it nearly reached Ann.

"'Hem! I meant… well-- something worse." After that it just went silent. I mean I could just hear the doctor panting still. I was guessing Matt was sitting on the couch like how other people would do when they're sad or something and then put their index and middle finger on the pressure point of the head.

"H-he's… he's dead?", Matt said sadly. I couldn't hear anything after that. The doctor nodded I guess.

"Uh, well Matt, um… actually the funeral will be a week later."

"Ok…" After that I could hear footsteps coming closer to the door. I just hid beside the door on the opposite of the opening. 'Hmm… weird. No one came out and it already passed five seconds. I can still hear the footsteps.' *CLICK* Now the doctor had finally opened and then--

"Jack!" Uh, that was Ann's voice.

"Jack? I'm not Jack I'm Dr. Zed Profinsky." '*gulp* That was the doctor*

"No, I mean Jack behind the--" 'No-no-no… this isn't happening… this--' "--door." 'Doomed I tell yah, doomed!'

"Behind the? What the?" The doctor had closed the door behind him and looked back in my direction. "Jack?! Were you just eavesdropping on us?"

"Err, heh-- maybe?"

"Maybe?-- You were eavesdropping! You didn't hear the news about Ann's dad-- nun- non- news I mean. Yah, just news." I could see the doctor was now mad. At the same time he did a wrong move.

"N-news about my dad? What news about my dad?" Ah no. Ann, she's going to be hurt.

"Uh, D-uh… y-you tell her Jack."

"H-What??!! I-I but I- I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-…"

"Fine then… shut with the **I**s. I'll tell her. I'm sorry Ann but y-your dad is--"

"IN A COMA??!!", Ann shouted.

"Again? Uh… I mean no-- something worse. Look, Ann please know I tried the best I could. But your dad is 63 years old and well maybe it was time."  
"It was time? *sniff* No… no-no-no… it, just, can't be. DAD!!!" Ann started running back and into the hospital. *Sigh* I guess its harder to take in if your actually friends or family. I hardly got time to know Ann's dad.

The funeral was held one week later which was now today (told you time passes by fast). Ann was surely sad and so was Matt. Although Matt was part of the family, I don't think if people can actually do these things but-- he refused to go to the funeral. So then we left him at the Inn while all the townspeople were at the funeral. We had then learned that was the worst mistake to make after the ceremony. Matt had ran away. Was it because they were orphans now? When we had gotten to the Inn after Matt ran away there was a letter. Ann and I couldn't read it because of tear marks and his hasty handwriting. Although the only part was the bottom of the letter. The note was tilted upwards. Well and so the bottom of the letter was written:

__

………………

I will come back soon. As a remembrance if I don't come back or not there is something under the staircase. It's locked so you know. The lock combination is… well. Ann-- remember our younger days? Hopefully you remembered. That's the combination. When you find what's inside there's something under the cover. Just don't uncover it. You'll know what to do when you see it.

'Remember our younger days? Oh yah, I wasn't even in the village yet.' Ann had then folded the letter and then went to the staircase. There was a combination lock. Ann had went toward it and opened the vault. I could only see there was seven numbers in the combination. When I gotten closer I could see it was alphabets instead of letters. Ann had then opened the vault and spun the combo to another letter. In it was a planting pot filled with just soil. _'When you find what's inside there's something under the cover. Just don't uncover it.'_ Well, I guess its obvious it's a plant then. I could see Ann, she was crying. Several tears dropped into the pot and something had sprouted out of it. Ann stopped crying and saw the plant. It was an aqua-blue mixed with white swirls. There was another letter under the pot too which we had just noticed. This time it was written slowly although the paper looked pretty old. It didn't look like Matt's hand writing except the bottom. This time there wasn't any tear marks.

__

Dear M , Ann

The word Matt was partially erased and replaced with Ann on the side. It then wrote:

__

This flower is unknown to me, meaning I don't know what kind it is. It's your great grandfather's plant seed, Matt. No one had been able to grow it. They had watered it for over three centuries now and still nothing. I hope you have the magical touch, Matt. This has also been passed down from my father (your great grandfather) to my dad, then me, then your father, and now you. Be sure to take good care of the plant. I know you can do it! Good luck.

P.S. One more thing... I don't know how to obtain this liquid-- Yet the scripture says 'it is of priceless value... One found in ourselves and everyone. It has no form but can still be contained.' 

Your Grandfather,

Jeffery Malthace


	7. Epilogue - First Step

****

Epilogue - First Step

"Ya-know sonny... There's this ancient Chinese proverb "The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step." or something like that. Are you on a journey?"

"Yes, I am..." said Matt.

"What kind of journey?"

"A journey to fulfill what my dad wanted to achieve but couldn't... in his life time."

"I see... Well-p its clear sailing from here... Destination: Caribbean Blues City

The sun stood there on the horizon as if leading the boat to its rightful destination. A loud ding could be heard from the boat. Matt laid his hands on the boat rail and let the wind rush into his face. He had no face of happiness... Nor a face of despair. Matt had a face on which tells the business world he's coming, a serious face. To him, the clouds seemed to now say "thanks, and good luck."

TO BE CONTINUED... (discontinued)


End file.
